


Upside Down, Right-side Up

by Scribblindown



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Discussions of Suicide, Draco's no longer racist, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Fix-It, Master of Death (Harry Potter), No Uchiha Massacre, Not Canon Compliant, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Out of Character, Out of Character Draco Malfoy, Reincarnation, Team Bonding, Team as Family, happier harry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 19:02:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23292157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribblindown/pseuds/Scribblindown
Summary: Itachi just can’t seem to wrap his head around how his two teammates think. But as weird as they are, whatever bond they have, he wants to have that too.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy & Harry Potter, Draco Malfoy & Uchiha Itachi, Harry Potter/Uchiha Itachi
Comments: 36
Kudos: 878
Collections: Great Harry Potter Crossovers





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> \- The entire chapter is done in Itachi’s POV.  
> \- I have detailed some of the OOC characteristics for both Draco and Harry in the tags above, but here they are for more clarification:  
> \- In this fic, Draco has worked past his racism and isn't as close-minded as he is in canon.  
> \- Harry’s insanity bounces off Draco’s easy annoyance and creates a more cheerful, happy Harry.  
> \- Harry also doesn’t believe in unnecessary violence in canon, and here she’s the same other than when it comes to punching Draco.  
> \- TW: discussions of suicide.

“And now… Team Two. Uchiha Itachi. Akui Ryuji. Togami Haruhi.” 

Itachi categorizes everyone in his life. 

It is hurtful to say, but only two people are currently in a circle he labels as “safe,” and they are Sasuke and Shisui while his parents and a small scattering of clan members stay in his “trustworthy” circle. These are the people that he will show his back to, but only to Sasuke and Shisui will he show his most vulnerable state. 

He loves his mother and father dearly, but they never really understand him, always holding him on a pedestal so high that he wouldn’t be able to communicate with the people who put him there. 

It’s always about the clan. 

When he went to the Academy, he thought that he could escape from the spotlight he had, but it has only become worse. Kids continued to whisper about his family as he walked by in the hallways and the teachers would see his family and his genius before they saw him. Uchiha Itachi, who likes to play with his little brother and who likes sweets from the shop down the street. 

A handful of students are “acquaintances,” all consisting of other clan kids who still treat him as if he is a walking uchiwa, but saw him as a rival. 

Then there are the people who were in “the background.” It is more malicious for him to say, but these are the kids and the people along the street that he couldn’t be bothered with. They are not a threat to him, nor are they people he would expose his neck to, but they are people of the village, and he will protect them all the same. 

These lists are mean and cruel, but Itachi can’t help it. His paranoia forces him to create lists that he can fall back on when he walks beside classmates. 

But there are two people who did not fit into any category. 

Akui Ryuji and Togami Haruhi. 

Akui Ryuji is the adopted son of the Daimyo’s advisor, always going to class in fancy silks and leather that he painstakingly changes out of when they have class spars. There are rumors that he is a Yamanaka orphan, a bastard child that was lucky enough to be picked up by a wealthy couple that wanted to do nothing more but spoil a child that they couldn’t have. His platinum blond hair and his pale blue eyes give it away, always peering around him with a look of disgust, taking in the dusty, mucky desks and the leaking roof above his head. 

Togami Haruhi could not be any more different. An orphan with unruly red hair and the greenest eyes that Itachi had ever seen. When he had first seen her hair when they met years ago, he was tempted to reach out and yank it in an unfamiliar burst of childish curiosity. He had never seen locks of fire before. She sparred with him on occasion during class, always getting beat to the ground by his outside training, but she never looked at him with cold eyes. She always asks the same thing after every fight they have. 

_“Are you alright?”_

As if he was the hurt one. 

Itachi turns his head to his new teammates, watching as they bicker underneath their breaths as the students around them buzz in excitement, forehead protectors gleaming in the artificial lights above. They talk at rapid speed, arguing so quickly that their words seem like the hums of bees. 

Itachi is never able to wrap his head around the two, always at each other’s throats, never agreeing on anything, yet they stuck to each other’s side the entire time. Itachi has seen them in Konoha before, or across the courtyard at school. They’re always together, and he wonders how two people who couldn’t stand each other’s presence could rely on one another so much. 

The girl pauses to tuck a strand of wild, red hair behind her ear and stops. The two of them suddenly sense eyes on them and they stop their bickering to stare right at him, meeting pale blue and green with black. They’re just as unrelenting as Itachi. 

They do not hide their steady gaze even as they continue to whisper to each other, and a small pang of hurt pricks Itachi’s heart. He is the first to break the stare, and looks down at the hem of his shirt, gripping the fabric in his hands. He felt happiness at that moment, the two of them are the same age as he is, and they’ve never looked at him as if he was a rival, or an Uchiha. He isn’t sure that they even look at him at all. They’re too busy looking at each other. 

He hopes — their bonds with each other are already too strong — there’s no hope for him to enter their circle. 

But as his new teammates, he guesses that he has to open up his “trust-worthy” circle to complete strangers.

* * *

Their sensei is a man by the name of Minazuki Yuuki, one of the first Jounins that pass through the door to cheerfully pick them up. 

Itachi learns that the man is happy-go-lucky, likes training and going on casual dates with women while he doesn’t like natto and pickled plum. 

But there is a tenseness that he catches while the man looks at all of them. 

“I’m Togami Haruhi,” the only girl says easily. “My hobbies include running and spending time at the owlery.” A strange combination. _A desire to get away from situations?_ Itachi thought, analyzing the information. “I have a lot of things I like, unlike a certain someone.” An elbow makes its way into her stomach, but instead of wincing she easily dodges it and a smile appears on her lips. “My dislikes are xenophobia, bullies, and annoying snakes.” She dodges another jab. 

“My name is Akui Ryuji. Why you — “ She wriggles out from underneath his hand. “I _hate_ annoying people, especially irritating _lions_ ,” Akui speaks immediately after Haruhi, attempting to hold her down with one arm while she giggles. Haruhi easily breaks out of his hold and grabs him into a noogie. 

_An inside joke?_ Itachi thought silently, growing even tinier against these two forces. Inside jokes indicate closeness and familiarity. He doesn't think that he even has one with Shisui. All of their conversations are weighed down by the seriousness of the clan. 

His small introduction of _Uchiha Itachi. My hobbies are training and visiting traditional teahouses. My most favorite thing is my little brother, Sasuke, and my goal is peace_ , is easily overshadowed and unheard.

* * *

Minazuki lets them go with the warning that they have a test next week, and Itachi hasn’t seen his two teammates since. He’s in a teashop with his younger brother beside him, a plate of dango placed in front of him. Sasuke’s swinging his legs on the bench, easily telling Itachi about everything that happens to him throughout the day. It is then when he hears two familiar bickering voices. They’re together again. 

Their voices rise like water on a stove, igniting the streets with liveliness and energy. Itachi turns and catches sight of Haruhi and Akui. The sunlight catches her hair and it makes it look like her head is surrounded by living fire while Akui’s eyes grow even paler in comparison to all of the light that surrounds them. Haruhi has a scroll tucked underneath her armpit as they talk loudly enough that Itachi is able to hear from his spot. Akui’s eyes meet his from across the street and he raises his eyebrow. The girl in front of him stops and turns around, filling their vision with each other. Instead of shying away and ignoring him like what he expects, embracing her alone time with Akui and Akui alone, Haruhi grabs the protesting blond’s hand and drags him to the teahouse. Itachi watches as the boy drags his feet but does not fight back. 

“Hello, Itachi-san,” Haruhi says with a smile as she stops in front of them, ducking underneath the fabric flaps that hang over the restaurant. Sasuke grows quiet by his side. “May we sit here?” 

They’re not excluding him, rings in his head loud and clear. 

“Of course.” Akui takes a seat beside her and waves over a waitress in the corner of his eye. He orders two teas, meaning that he knew Haruhi’s order instinctively. Itachi blinks wide black eyes at her. “And Itachi is fine. We are the same age.” 

Haruhi’s smile grows and she sits down, placing the scrolls on the table. “We’ve been meaning to find you. Ryu and I were going to go to the Uchiha Compound after this to find you, but — we dug up all of the information on Minazuki-sensei.” After a pause, she follows with, “For the exam.” 

Itachi’s eyes grow wide at that. He has asked his father about his new teacher, but his dad only scoffed, telling him that Itachi would have been better suited with an Uchiha teacher, and his sensei was a fool. 

Itachi decides to keep this information to himself. 

Akui unravels the scroll in front of him that has their teacher’s face on it. 

“Are you alright with Sasuke staying here?” Itachi asks before things go too far. His little brother looks at his teammates with wide eyes, hints of awe and jealousy mixed in with onyx hues. He doesn’t want Sasuke to be sent away, but he can see the wary glance Akui sends at his brother. He can also understand the discomfort their presence can command. Haruhi moves and suddenly the blond winces. _Did she just kick him underneath the table?_

“Hmmm.” Haru holds a finger to her chin almost animatedly, eyes shut before she turns them to Sasuke with a smile. “I’m not sure! Sasuke-kun, can you be trusted with _serious_ ninja business? This is all valuable information, we would only let the best of the best know this!” 

Itachi knows that Akui catches his surprised expression, noticing the way his lower lip gently drops in surprise as he stares at the girl in front of him as if she had grown another head. Everyone ignores Sasuke, an action Itachi doesn’t quite know is a negative or positive yet, but Haruhi fully addresses him, smiling at Sasuke, treating Sasuke as if he was another child off the street. 

Her kindness towards his little brother is something that Itachi never ends up forgetting. 

“Of course I can! I can do anything!” Sasuke exclaims at her, looking almost indignant that this _big kid_ considers even for a second that he wasn’t. But his confidence lasts for a second before he grows wary and tries to hide behind his big brother, trying to shrink underneath his large collar. 

Haruhi smiles gently, eyes growing soft before she states, “I guess Sasuke-kun has proven himself worthy then.” 

Akui snorts underneath his breath before he leans over to the table and gets to work. 

“Our sensei just barely made Jounin in the last year and what he said was true. He hangs around the bars a lot and attempts to talk to a lot of women — most of it unsuccessful. From what we gathered, this is half because his mother is pressuring him to get married soon, and because he just likes women, but he’s also pathetically single.” 

The blond shakes his head and points to the scroll. “He’s twenty-six. One-hundred and seventy-seven centimeters tall, blood type O; he’s allergic to yuzu. His teammates are still alive but they do not talk anymore, and… he’s known for being petty. He is extremely jealous of shinobi who have better talents than he does and is known for failing students who have shown better potential or skill than him.” He knits his eyebrows at this, turning those blond arches into a deep V over his eyes. 

This information makes Itachi raise his own eyebrow. 

Their team formation is built upon the three strongest students in his class, with Haruhi being Head Girl and Akui and Itachi frequently switching places for Top Boy. Itachi made it at the top of the ranks at their graduation, just barely beating the boy in front of him by a hair's breadth. Akui has always been better at theory and concept than he is, but Itachi is better at practicals. 

Haruhi sees the worry on Itachi’s face. 

“But you’re the head of the Uchiha clan and Ryu is Akui-san’s son. The council will be doing a lot of protesting if Minazuki-sensei fails us.” She is quick to comfort him. 

“But…” Itachi’s eyebrows knit further, his head fogging up with this new information. “What about you?” Clan-less, parent-less, in debt, Haru is at a considerably worse position than they are. 

Haruhi looks at him as if she has seen him for the first time. Her grin is genuine. 

“I will sponsor her,” breaks in Ryuji before Haruhi can say anything. “Team formations can not be broken, even if one student does not show as much potential as the other. In Konohagure’s case, it really is ‘sink or swim together.’ But in any case, if Minazuki-sensei attempts anything, I will tell my father about this.” 

Haruhi looks like she’s about to laugh. Another inside joke. Akui’s eye twitches in irritation. 

“Oh…” Itachi looks at her. “In any case…you have my support too, Haruhi-san. I am not sure if I can convince my father, but I will try my hardest.” 

“Thank you, Itachi, and just Haru, please.” 

“...Haru-san.” 

She seems exasperated but amused and Itachi might see why Akui sticks around her. She talks to you as if she can only see you; when her full attention is on him, it is as if Akui is not sitting beside her. The discussion goes to how they will execute their exam next, with Sasuke breaking in every now and then when Haru invites him into the conversation. 

When they finalize formations that they have taught in the Academy, Haru reaches over and plucks Akui’s empty teacup before he can stop her. 

She glances down at it and turns to him. 

“Looks like you’re going to be burdened in life,” Haru says off-handedly, tilting the cup to show him the mass of brown at the bottom of the ceramic. 

Ryuji hits her in the back of the head and she laughs it off, shaking her curls before placing his teacup down. 

“Tea-leaf reading?” Itachi whispers, almost to himself. Haru does not seem like the superstitious sort. 

“Sorry, it’s a... class that we used to take together — “ Haru tries to explain, waving her hand. Maybe they took a tea ceremony class together, he thinks. It would explain their familiarity with one another, even if it was not ideal. Ryuji is aristocratic in every sense, from his clothes to his speech to his mannerism, but there is a sort of elegance in the orphan in front of him too. A tea ceremony class is not off the table. 

“It’s a load of rubbish and I don’t know why you still try.” 

“Does it...work?” Itachi tilts his head. Some of his aunts did palm reading as a thing to giggle at during clan parties, but they never took it seriously.

Haru admits with a sheepish smile, “It’s a pretty dumb subject if you ask me, but looking back on it… It’s pretty amusing just to see what comes up. My first reading said that I was going to die a painful death.” Black eyes widen. “But I’m still alive, aren’t I?” 

“Not if you keep running off without thinking,” Akui mutters underneath his breath, but clear enough for the three of them to hear it. 

“Do you want me to read your leaves?” Haru says. “Just for fun. Though I can’t guarantee that they’ll be accurate.” 

Itachi has never been invited into something like this before, even if it is as strange and obscure as fortune-telling. Maybe he'll be fated to die a painful death too. 

Now that they're teammates, maybe they'll die together.

“Sure…” He pushes his cup into her hands. 

“Hm…” She looks down at his cup and Akui peers over her shoulder. Akui has dismissed the subject, yet he looks at the cup as if he is analyzing— he recognizes the art as well. Itachi fiddles with his hands underneath the table. Sasuke creeps closer to her as she seconds tick by. She looks up at him. “It says here that you're going to fall in love easily, Itachi-kun.” 

“Nii-san won’t do anything as reckless as that!” Sasuke interjects, breaking the tension in the air. 

“Yea? What if Itachi-kun falls madly in love tomorrow? What are you going to do, Sasuke-kun?” she teases. 

“I’ll fight them!” 

He highly doubts that and she knows, and instead their conversation moves to weekend plans. 

Itachi doesn’t show it, but he feels strangely light about this, his heart lifting like a bird in flight. She asks him about his thoughts frequently and Ryuji jumps in to put in his two-cents whenever he feels as if his opinion is needed. For the first time, even if it is abnormal, Itachi feels like any other boy out with his friends.

* * *

They end up passing the exam with flying colors, and their red-faced sensei can’t do anything to object when they all had strategically brought the fight out of the training ground and into the middle of the marketplace where anyone could witness their skill versus his word. 

Haru suggests that they go get dessert to celebrate and turns to Itachi to ask what he would like to eat. 

His answer is quick with no hesitation. _Dango_. His teammates do not protest and they go off together.

* * *

The next few weeks of Itachi’s life are occupied by D-ranks that he takes to silently. Haru is unsurprisingly the best at them, gardening, cooking, babysitting, and cleaning as if she had been doing them for years. Itachi considers her past, and he undoubtedly recognizes his privilege. Maybe she _has_ been a gardener, cleaner, a babysitter. Their teammate, on the other hand — 

“Have you ever held a broom before, Akui?” she prods. 

“You damn Toukou!” He swings his broom and she meets it with her own broom handle, clashing as if they were sword fighting. “You know that I’m not used to this stuff!” 

Itachi pauses from his own sweeping. Akui is in a whole different world than they are, one of nobles and easy luxury, and so his mannerisms are often things that Itachi can not explain. Slandering Haru by calling her a potter was possibly one of the strangest on the list. It could be a slang term that he is not familiar with, or pottery is a hobby she did not mention. 

“Itachi-kun looks like he’s doing alright, and he's the clan heir.” 

Akui looks like he wants to say more, wringing his hands as if he wants to strangle the girl in front of him before he huffs and turns on his heel. He stomps off to their sensei, maybe to ask for permission to murder the girl, but they both know he is using the space between them to defuse. 

“Please do not pit me against Akui-san, Haru-san. I do not want to antagonize him,” Itachi says simply, blinking at Haru. These past few D-ranks have allowed him to be closer to the girl, and he hates to admit that he yearns for her presence. He enjoys going on missions and to team training if he knows that she will be there. His isolation from his peers has made him desperate, but Haru breaks down those walls well, as if she understands him — as if she knew the remedy for loneliness. But his relationship with Akui still remained at a plateau at the origin point. They talk through Haru as the messenger, and he has yet to be closer to the boy.

Itachi silently wonders if Akui is jealous of him — if he hates the boy for stealing Haru’s attention. Itachi did not go into a team quietly; he had done his research. Akui’s only friend throughout the Academy was Haru. The two boys have struggled for the title of Top Boy for a while, toppling their scores back and forth like a scale, Itachi just wants to wait. He wants Akui to just say that he hates Itachi, that he hates other geniuses, that he hates D-ranks and he hates shinobi. Yet his life choices say the opposite. He is a shinobi despite grimacing at the thought of the job description, and he is friends with Haru despite their antithesis and his envy. He desires to be seen. 

“He knows my intentions behind what I say,” Haru says this with confidence, arms crossed. “And I think it’s good for him to know his weaknesses. He’s rich but knowing some basic manual labor can’t hurt him.” 

The boy beside her stays silent. He holds in his opinion. 

“What’s on your mind?” Haru asks not even a beat later. 

“Huh?” Itachi lowers the broom in his hand as he looks at her as if he was a deer in the headlights, like he was caught doing a crime. Itachi was not an easy person to read, his own father often slipped through the cracks of his exterior. 

“You’re thinking hard about something,” the girl replies easily. “I can tell because you get this certain look.” She answers his questions without his voice. “It’s the, you know — downturned eyes, small frown.” 

Haru doesn’t say that she has seen that expression on her own face too many times. 

“How are you…” he starts. He shakes his head as if to get water out of his ears before looking at her again. “Why are you and Akui-san friends?” 

Maybe he can get to the bottom of this, he can find the formula. 

“Hm?” Out of all the questions, this was one Haru did not expect. She tilts her head at him, an invisible question mark floating above her head. Her head turns slowly like a puppet on a string, staring out at the door Akui had left open. 

She waits and ponders her second for a while. Hands tighten around the handle of the broom. Itachi does not want a thought out response, he wants an honest answer. 

“We met in a tailor shop. We were both getting our robes fitted and he struck up a conversation,” she eventually says. 

She looks at Itachi and sees that he is not satisfied. 

“We’ve been through a lot together,” she tries to elaborate. To Itachi’s surprise, she’s not joking— her words are the truth. She speaks softly and clearly, genuine. “We haven’t always been on the same page or the same side — “ Same side of what? “But we have experiences together that can not be replicated anywhere else. Honestly, we still have a lot of differences that make us enemies at most points, but we still stick together.”

Her answers have only given him more questions. 

“I…” His mouth opens and closes. “I don’t quite understand.” She is painting him to be a bad person, and yet she sticks around him. Akui is also at his kindest when he is around Haru. He pays for her desserts with his never-ending wallet and they often do reconnaissance together after training. 

“You’re worried about where you stand with him, right?” She steals the words from out of his brain again. Maybe she was the secret Yamanaka, always reading his mind, going into his head. Yet she still evades his big question. “You shouldn’t worry so much about him, he doesn’t deserve that type of attention. He’s a difficult person to get along with. He has a lot of complicated and conflicting emotions and beliefs, and I don’t agree with a lot of them, but…” This is a moment that Itachi can not begin to understand. “He’s trying to learn from his upbringing and it’s not much, but...” 

Haru is not speaking to him at this point, her eyes growing distant. She talks as if she was trying to convince herself. 

“We’re both working toward becoming better friends. We’re really trying our hardest to be good to each other — “ She looks at him and Itachi mentally wonders if he had really _seen_ her before. She has always been the beacon in their classroom, her hair making her pop out among a sea of blondes and brunettes in the Academy, but now the Uchiha can’t help but commit her large, doe-like eyes to memory and the curve of her jaw and the cheeks full of baby fat. “That includes you too, Itachi-kun.” 

Itachi does not know what to take away from this. His question is unsolved. Yet her response makes him run through one thought in his head in laps. 

_She’s including him too._

Later on, she excuses herself when Minazuki-sensei tells her to work on cleaning the female bathroom and Itachi goes out into the courtyard where Akui angrily sweeps leaves as if he is pummeling a face. 

The Uchiha walks up to him slowly and the blond in front of him tenses, a coiled wire. Instead of advising him or holding up airs, Itachi simply lays the dustpan in front of them and squats down to hold it properly. 

“I’ll hold the dustpan if you sweep,” was all he said. 

Akui exhales like the dragon he is, but does not say another word. They clean up in silence.

* * *

Their first real mission is a quest to hunt down a ninja cat, a ninneko with special whiskers that are an ingredient in a medicine only made in Sora-ku. 

Itachi is familiar with the castle of Nekobaa and Tamaki and the abandoned city that surrounds it. The Uchiha clan has used it for generations to store weapons and other inventions they have, but Itachi watches the reactions of his teammates as he walks behind them. Akui keeps his eyes trained on the floor, attempting to dodge the cats that try to brush up against him as if they carried the plague, disgust marring his face. Haru easily accepts any cat into her arms and watches their surroundings with awe, pointing out things to Ryu if they had caught her attention or if they reminded her of something. Itachi wants to speak up to them, mention that the restaurant they’re standing next to has good sashimi, or that the cat currently in Haru’s arms is a nefarious hog for affection. Immediately after meeting up with Nekobaa, they’re given cat headbands that let them speak the cat language and a picture of their target. 

Haru easily puts hers on while Akui stares at it like it’s going to rob him at knifepoint. 

_Cute_. 

Minazuki loudly announces that they are going to split up in two groups, breaking Itachi’s stare. He opens his mouth slowly, his heel lifted and his fingers forward in his teammates' direction, but his intentions drop as soon as it comes. 

“Ryuuji-kun and Haru-chan will go together while I’m with Itachi,” their teacher states, and before he could get out another word, they’re off. 

Deep within the nekonin’s warehouse, large crates and bags tower over them, creating fortresses wherever he looks. Minazuki-sensei feels as if this is a good place to recuperate and he sends Itachi to look for his teammates. 

It didn’t take long — Itachi follows the sound of arguing that he can recognize from a mile away, but they’re so far that even Ryuji, their sensor, doesn’t recognize that he’s there. 

Itachi doesn’t know what comes over him that causes him to lie in wait, listening to their conversation. 

Haru whips a senbon from out of her sleeves and lays it flat on her palm like she is going to serve it on a platter. The two of them stare at it intensely and Itachi attempts to narrow his eyes to get a better look at what they’re doing. He squats behind several crates and holds his breath so he becomes completely silent. 

“Point me: the target,” she states easily, almost as if to command the needle in her hand. The needle begins to spin wildly like a compass, and Itachi’s eyes flash wide open from his place, hitching the gasp that almost escaped from her lips. Akui is not surprised by this, and familiarity even sparks through his eyes as they watch the needle. The needle finally stops, settling down and Haru points in the distance. 

“The cat’s there.” 

Itachi’s eyebrows furrow so much that they’re nearly touching. When Itachi was paired with Haru on tracking exercises, she had never shown him this ability before. She stays by his side as they hunch over different scents, hairs, furs, or anything else their teacher had left behind to uncover their target. 

A Bloodline limit? Multiple clans have been lost in the war, and if Haru came from a tradition of trackers, no one would have looked twice. If she always had the ability to track in this way, how come she had never used this in front of him? 

Itachi follows them quietly, and he’s not surprised when they’re led directly to their target, drinking away at catnip alcohol and laying sprawled, completely wasted. 

Akui can only take one more step further before he grimaces and clamps a hand over his nose. 

“That cat reeks!” He complains, looking at Haru as if he couldn’t believe she would actually go in to capture him. 

“If you don’t want to go I can just do it.” 

“And leave you and Uchiha to take all the credit?” His voice leaks with disdain. Akui’s voice comes out comically nasally from the finger pinched on the bridge on his nose. “As if, Togami.” 

“Well, we’d be taking all the credit because we’re doing all the work…” her voice trails off. Before the boy in front of her opens his mouth to protest again, she drops her voice low, her expression serious. “Seriously — _Draco_.” Itachi furrows his eyebrows at the unfamiliar sound, a word he has never heard before. “If you don’t want to do anything, I can take care of it. Honestly.” She sounds the most earnest Itachi has ever heard. 

The blond’s face reddens with incredulousness. Haru sighs as if expecting this. 

“Ryu, wait — “

“I’ll show you! _Accio!_ Cat!” 

Itachi can’t hide his gasp this time when their target is suddenly moving as if lifted by an invisible hand and is thrown through the air. 

“Ryuji-kun, stop!” Their sensei shouts from his own hiding spot underneath the crates that they’re standing on. 

Yowls suddenly fill the air as the cat screams before slamming into Ryuji’s awaiting arms. The tabby cat barrels into Akui’s chest then immediately drops when claws sink deep into the blond’s face. The cat dashes past Itachi and he doesn’t hesitate to go on the chase. Akui sinks to his knees with his hands pressing on his face as cries of pain ring from the boy’s lips. 

Itachi hears a, “Sorry, but you deserve it,” in the background before Haru hones in on the cat and catches up to him. His neck cranes forward as he catches the sight of his teammate on the crates above his and she looks down to shoot him a smile. Before long, Haru breaks away from him, speeding up and catching up to the space between her and the ninneko. 

A breath leaves Itachi’s mouth. Haru has always been the fastest kid in the Academy; nearly neck and neck with him but always a hair's breadth ahead. 

_We need to do something about his mobility…_ he thinks, lungs growing heavier with every breath _but first… Those whiskers enhance his spatial perception_. Kunai slide into his fingers and he waits for the moment right when the cat leaps and launches a handful into the air. Paws and fur slip easily through sharpened metal, but Itachi planned for this. He takes his own leap into the air and prepares to launch two more kunai until the cat’s back paw knocks against a falling kunai. The Uchiha falters in the middle of the air, eyes growing in size as the sailing metal drives nearer. His arms grow heavy against his body. 

“Shit!” Haru calls out from above him on a metal pillar. His head lifts up to the sound of her voice. Her kunai clashes into the stray one that was about to hit him. 

Itachi drops into a roll into the ground, gasping when he rises then releasing a yelp when he sees his blond teammate fall through the air. 

Ryuji’s body slams against the cat again, but this time his arms are wound tightly against the struggling ninneko. Red light seemingly encompasses Ryuji’s hold, lulling the cat into a peaceful sleep. A hand reaches up to rub Itachi’s eye, blinking away any dust that could’ve made him hallucinate the red light. That was no jutsu, and he wishes in that second that he had activated his Sharingan, focusing so hard on the soaring boy that he strains his eyes. 

“Ryu!” 

Then he drops like an anvil, screaming when he sees the upcoming pit he’s falling into. His grip on the cat grows tighter and he clenches his eyes shut, awaiting the eventual impact and bracing himself for a few broken bones. 

A string weaves itself around his leg and _yanks_. Ryuji slams into the side of a large wooden box, a large _oof_ leaving his mouth when all of the air in his lungs get knocked out. Itachi’s shoulders slump when he confirms the safety of his teammate and he sighs lightly. 

“Thankfully I made it in time,” he mutters to himself as he pulls on the string to bring Akui up. 

When he raises the blond boy to eye-level his expression is anything but happy.

* * *

The sun sets by the time they walk back from Sora-ku, taking advantage of the empty road and the gentle silence that is carried with it. Their sensei is several kilometers behind them, taking care of loose threads of their mission report and lingering behind the den of the cats. 

Itachi purposefully lingers behind his two teammates as he’s always done. This time, however, they weren’t speaking. Their voices would normally fill the space they occupy, whether it be from arguments, casual conversations, or Haru checking up on his family. She states that he had gotten his negative attitude from his father, and Itachi wonders why she keeps such a gentle concern for them if that were the case. 

Haru elbows Akui in the stomach forty minutes into their trek back to Konoha. 

“Ow!” his bandaged arm wraps around his middle. “What the — You better have a good reason for that!” 

“Don’t you have something to say to Itachi-kun?” she interrupts. 

His mouth closes in an instant. Itachi holds his hands up in surrender. 

“You don’t need to do anything, Akui-san — “ 

“No, no. Itachi-kun.” Haru holds out her hand to silence him but she stares deeply at their pouting, bandaged, teammate. “He has something to say.” 

It looks as if Akui wants to stomp his feet in frustration at that moment, but he forces himself to exhale and close his eyes. He turns to Itachi and gives him a short, shallow bow. 

“Thank you.” He catches the look Haru gives him from behind Itachi’s shoulder. “Tch. Don’t think you’re so much better than me, Uchiha! When you’re down and beaten, it’s going to me who will save _you_.” His finger pokes Itachi in the chest, but his eyes are so wide in that moment they can see their own reflection in his black irises. 

“Can’t you say thank you normally?” Haru grouses by his side when they start moving again. “Itachi did something nice for you! Would it kill you to not treat your friends like crap?” 

“He’s not my friend!” 

“I was just trying to do my mission!” Itachi tries to explain, but Haru starts glaring at him too. 

“Don’t make me punch you too, Itachi-kun,” she states, holding up her fist threateningly, but the corner of her lips lift up in the briefest hint of a smile. Akui huffs beside her, but he decides now to open his mouth. Against himself, Itachi falls into a laugh. 

_Friends, huh?_

“Woah…” Her fist gently falls. “It’s just — I’ve never seen you with that kind of smile before!” The expression she gives him almost makes him want to blush. He’s glad that it’s sundown, his skin is already tinted with a soft orange. 

“Be more observant, Togami.” Akui starts to walk ahead of them. “You obviously have never seen his face when he eats dango.” 

“I — “ He tries to defend himself. 

Haru falls into a small fit of giggles and runs as she agrees with Akui. They bicker and talk a bit more, inviting Itachi into the conversation and letting him speak whenever he feels like it. Eventually, silence falls upon them again, but Itachi notices now that they’re walking so close to each other that their shoulders nearly brush.

* * *

He wonders what kind of history they have to get them to this point. 

They’re not best friends, he summarizes, but they know everything about each other. Itachi doesn’t have enough fingers to count the number of times they’ve slipped into that strange language of theirs, easily caught the other’s slip up during battle, or when they stared at each other with such familiarity, the Uchiha wonders if they’re old gods, experiencing several millennia together before dying and being reborn as his teammates. 

They’re something strange. They have similar quirks and mannerisms, the same extreme sweet tooth that Itachi shares with his dango and their tarts. Yet on other days it seems as if they’re on such different sides of the coin that he spends all day splitting up their arguments. 

Their sensei won’t do anything about it. Their once happy-go-lucky sensei slowly burns into something more sinister, looking at their growing progress with a side-eye. 

Itachi wonders if they’re the same person, born, died, then reincarnated as two people. 

He looks at them setting up for their spar, meters away from where he sat on the plush grass as their sensei stood tall, observing. 

It was the same thing again. 

“Scared, Togami?” 

“...You wish.” A large smile snakes its way into her lips. They both hold their kunai up to their faces before bringing it back down. 

“Begin!” 

Their strange traditions used to bother him, always the outsider. To the clan. To the village. To his team. 

“Itachi, you’re up next.” He pushes himself up off his feet, giving a nod to Akui as he stalks past him and up to the empty training field where Haru waits for him. 

He slips into the beginning stance. 

“Ready, Itachi-kun?” she smiles. He nods. 

“Begin!” 

He ends up winning just by a hair’s breadth and they form the seal of reconciliation. 

Akui walks up to them with his hand on his hip after their sensei walks off after the training is done, probably to vent to his friends, probably to find more women to bother with his desperate advances. 

“Dango?” Akui says, not even as a question anymore. They both nod and walk off in the direction of the teahouse. 

He hopes — No, he knows that the good thing is that he can start new traditions with them.

* * *

“Haru-san?” 

She looks up from her paper bags, a bouquet clasped firmly in one hand and several food bags in the other. She brightens when she sees him and he feels his own smile slip onto his face at her enthusiasm. 

“Itachi-kun! It’s nice to see you!” 

He tilts his head. “We saw each other yesterday,” he says, voice confused. And the day before that, and the day before that. They spend nearly every waking day with one another, jumping from training to missions to mission report debriefing. He knows that he sees his team more than he sees his own family at this point, a fact that has gotten Sasuke grumpy like a kitten every time he comes home late. 

She huffs with a tired, but amused expression on her face. “I can still mean it, Itachi-kun.” 

His heart grows warm when those words leave her mouth. 

“Is Akui-san not with you?” he says instead. They’re usually attached by the hip.

“No.” She shakes her head hard enough to fan out her curls. “He’s visiting his parents today. In the capital city.” It almost slips from his mind that the Daimyo was a part of Akui’s life. He has gotten so used to seeing the Akui in front of him. Grouchy, germaphobic, but not what he initially expected. He looks down at the flowers in her hands, bright and strategically arranged. They’re Yamanaka standard. 

_I remember you_ , it reads as he recalls the flower language. 

It’s the day of the end of the Third Shinobi War. 

“Are you…” he starts out. “Are you going to pay your respects?” 

A look of knowing falls on her face, her smile growing wistful. She turns and a strand of her hair falls over the side of her face like a curtain. 

“Yes, do you want to join me?” 

. . .

“Forgive me for asking…” he begins as she places the lit incense in the holder. The steam wafts up like water in a river, winding, twisting, then disappearing. The smell gently reaches his nose. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and turns to look at him. “Are your parents buried here?” 

She reaches into her bag and produces several oranges, standing up straight. 

“I don’t remember my parents.” A lie, he recognizes. “And besides, they’re not buried in Konoha. I would know.” They’re surrounded by rows and rows of graves and tombstones, young and old, rich and poor. A good chunk of them are still new, barely several years old and both of them know exactly where it came from. 

“Are you...praying for everyone?” 

She begins placing oranges and other offerings at the base of the altar but doesn’t answer him. Instead, she pulls out several desserts and finishes it off with her bouquet. 

Haru didn’t strike him as the spiritual kind, but he can understand her generosity. She pulls out a folded leaf last, but Itachi can smell what it is from here. 

“Dango?” she asks, holding it up to him. 

“I — “ He looks the other way to sway his temptation. “You should offer it up to the spirits.” 

She laughs at that. “It’s alright, most of it is courtesy. They’re not going to be eating it until after it grows old, and dango just doesn’t deserve to be treated like that.” Haru talks as if she knows exactly what the spirits do, where they go, every step they take. She gives him a smirk. “And even if it weren’t — I’m sure the spirits can handle not having a plate or two of dango.” 

He glances at the leaf in her hands at the corner of his eye, lips thinned out and resolve wavering. 

“No…it would be impolite of me,” he finally says, even though the look in his eyes said anything but that. His voice was strained, as if it physically hurt him. 

“If you say so…” Haru sighs dramatically, shoulders sinking. “I guess I’ll eat this dango all by myself…” she trailed off, glancing at her teammate at the side of her vision. Itachi does not move from his spot, but his face changes to one of ultimate betrayal, like she has told him she is going to become a missing-nin right this second. To edge him on further, she slowly unwraps the leaf, dragging on the seconds as soft crinkles fill the air. She takes one out of the packaging, raising it by its bamboo skewer as slow as a flower petal falling off the tree. 

“Stop.” His hand is placed on top of her as she raises the dumpling up to her mouth. Instead of faltering, she falls into a fit of giggles at the indignant expression on his face. “I’ll do it.” 

“Let’s go somewhere else to eat,” she says, finally. 

. . . 

On the outskirts of the cemetery is a park, then a forest, and beyond that is a large cliff overlooking the woods that decorated the skirts of Konoha, going as far as the eye could see. Haru settles here easily, draping her legs over the edge as if there weren’t a thousand meters meeting her blow. The Uchiha sits beside her, close enough for their hands to brush when they both reach for another stick of dango. Comfortable silence fills the air with the wind whistling in their ears like a gentle siren’s song, not even strong enough to stir up the leaves from the trees. 

Itachi’s train of thought goes from the multitude of offerings Haru has bought for this day, going from the cemetery to the people buried underneath their feet. He remembers the day Konoha held the funeral, his father’s arm wrapped protectively over his shoulders and the stirs of the clan over Hatake Kakashi’s eye. He thinks of the Iwa-nin he tried to save on the battlefield, the same one that tried to kill him when he recognized who he was — what village he hailed from. 

He looks at the girl beside him, casually chewing on the bamboo skewer as she stares endlessly at the tops of trees. An orphan, undoubtedly a product of war. 

“Haru-san...can I ask you something strange?” Itachi hears his own voice without willing it. 

“Sure thing,” she said easily, bouncing the skewer between her index finger and thumb. “Go ahead.” 

“What is...the meaning of life?” 

The skewer nearly falls out of her hand. Her eyebrow raises far above her bangs as her lower lip drops in confusion. 

“Huh?” 

A soft exhale falls from his lips before he twists his head down to stare down at his lap. He notices how small his legs look from here. His knees are tiny and he’s barely eight. Itachi is _minuscule_ compared to the forest, the world, the universe. 

It would be so easy. 

“I don’t know,” Haru says truthfully beside him, voice soft but her words ring like they are everlasting. He expects that. Haru is more intelligent than most people give her credit for, always inquisitive and he can’t ignore that air of otherworldliness that exudes from her person. He doesn’t know what she knows. 

The boy next to her (so physically close, yet worlds away) gazes down at the side of the cliff. 

“When I was five...I tried to commit suicide,” he suddenly admits. 

“Itachi — !” she gasps out, voice cutting off like she lost air. The curls of her hair whip around her face when she snaps her head towards him. 

“I met with one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, and he said...there was no meaning in life." Dark eyebrows furrow tightly. "I thought...if there was no meaning in life…” White knuckles wrap tightly around his own skewer, tightening the skin around his hands until she can almost _hear_ it. “It made me wonder why I should try. But halfway down the cliff, I thought...I didn’t want to die anymore…” Redness starts peaking out at her waterline. Sweat drips down the nape of his neck at the worried look she’s giving him, guilt bubbling in his stomach at the thought of making her upset. His voice is small, carried away in the breeze that rustles the wind. “Ah...but don’t worry. I don’t think like that anymore. The birth of my younger brother has made me really happy recently. He really has saved me.” 

“Itachi...I’m…” He’s too ashamed to look at her at this point. Black bangs hang down his face, curtaining his eyes from her view. He doesn’t know what came over him. He had never told anyone this before, not his own parents, not Sasuke, not Shisui. 

She sighs. “Itachi, I’m so happy.” 

Faraway, a flock of birds take flight out of trees and take soar towards the sun. 

Now it was his turn to be confused. “Huh?” His head lifts up from their fetal position and he turns to look at her. Silent tears are streaming down her face at this point, but her smile is genuine. It is sad, with tears falling into the lines on her face, but her intentions weren’t hidden. 

“I’m happy,” she finally says, “I’m happy that you’re here, and healthy, and you’re still in front of me. Nothing has made my day more than knowing that you’re still here.” 

He turns to look at her in the eye, pupils blown wide by the genuine _love_ that easily came from her words, that she easily gave him. 

_Something blooms in his chest_. 

“Can I hug you?” she asks next. 

_A side of him says there’s no purpose, but then he thinks…in a rare moment of selfishness...even if_ [花に嵐] The moon is often hidden by a cloud. Flowers are often scattered by the wind _, the bloom in his chest is incomparable to any other feeling. It’s worth it._

He doesn’t recognize his own voice when he comes to stutter out, “Y-Yes.” 

She nearly gets a jumping start, crashing into him so hard he almost tips over. Skinny arms wrap around his neck tightly and he doesn’t know how he comes to wrap his own arms around her waist. They’ve been close before, nearly skin to skin during spars, but this was unfamiliar to him. He feels his cheeks redden. She presses her face in the crook of his neck and the tracks where her tears were sink into the fabric of his shirt. 

“Can I tell you a secret, Itachi-kun?” Her whisper is so close he feels the warmth on his cheek and the base of his neck. 

“I — Yes.” His arms tighten. 

“What Death wants more than anything else in the world is for you to come to him, willingly or unwillingly. He’ll pull every trick in the book to make it happen.” A shudder runs down his spine. “If that is Death...then life must be your ability to go on for as long as you possibly can...doing whatever it is that makes you happy.” 

_The meaning of life...doesn’t have to exist._

“Haru-kun…” He pauses to gulp silently. “Do you ever have…” He doesn’t need to continue. Instead, she releases the hold she has on him and leans back on her knees. 

_Rushing in to save Akui recklessly, shielding Minazuki-sensei without a thought. Choosing high up spots. Do you do this on purpose?_

His own death years ago almost meant nothing to him, but the thought of Haru at the end of the ravine, bones cracked unnaturally, eyes blank, made him nearly want to clench his chest with fear — with a sickness. 

“I admit that I had a moment where I told myself... _I am ready to die_ .” A gasp slips from his lips. “But it never got to a point where I felt that I wanted to die.” She looks up at him and he feels himself slipping into a world of emerald green. “That’s why...I’m truly sad that you had a time in your life where you felt like you had to resort to Death. Itachi-kun...please know that I am your friend...so if there ever is a moment where you feel helpless in any way...I will _always_ be here for you.” 

_He holds on to his emotions gently._

_(Physically close, and now a little bit closer.)_


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- This chapter focuses a lot on Draco, so there's multiple perspective shifts and flashbacks, but not much of Harry.  
> \- I'm not a big fan of "The Cursed Child," (nor do I see it as canon with the story line) but I've used some of the lines from there in this chapter since I admire how Harry and Draco have multiple civil interactions in the play.  
> \- I know I said I was planning on splitting this into only two chapters, but it ended it ballooning into three...let's see.  
> \- Itachi's slightly OOC in this chapter in the way that he's not super strong, but I hope it's okay since he was only eight years old when the events happened.  
> \- Warning! Major plot diversion that will not be elaborated on in this chapter.

Draco Malfoy is as much of a coward as the sky is blue.

* * *

Team Two has a perfect record of successful missions, shooting their rank to the very top despite the fact that it has only been their first year and that none of the three members are even ten years old yet. 

This, coupled with Akui Ryuji’s familiarity of the Daimyo, makes them the perfect fit to take up the honorary mission of escorting the Daimyo on his yearly visit to Konoha. 

The capital city is beautiful, Itachi summarizes. Bright lanterns decorate nearly every shop and it lights up the night like fireflies. The buildings are painted in a beautiful red and the people are in a constant state of liveliness. He doesn’t know if the capital is his cup of tea, if he is built for the busy streets and the noisy night, but he can not deny that the air energizes him in some way. 

Akui takes pride in knowing the ins and outs of the entire city, taking his team to a kaiseki restaurant and paying for everyone with a large smile on his face. The food is amazing, but it was the desserts that put the stars in Itachi’s eyes. The blond looks over at Itachi’s face filled with food with a smug look. 

_Akui-san’s ‘love language’ perhaps?_

The Fire Daimyo is a bland man, barely giving any recognition to his Genin nods, and speaks slowly and unsurely. He has five advisers, all wearing the same standard black robes and hats with the character of ‘fire’ upon it. Yet it is easy to pick out Akui-san from the crowd. 

Once the Daimyo dismisses them and retires for the night for the early morning tomorrow, the youngest advisor sighs deeply and breaks away from his crowd, heading straight for them. The man moves fast for a civilian, Itachi notes, or he is simply powered by the intense love he has for his son. Ryuji barely has time to rise from his bow before the man pulls him into a hug. Ryuji wraps his arms slowly around the man, nodding along to his rapid-fire, but genuine questions of, “Are you eating well?”, “How is Konoha during this season?”, “Tell me honestly, son, is shinobi life treating you kindly?” 

It is clear that Akui-san loves Ryuji, and the boy accepts his affections with caution, but is always willing to reciprocate. Itachi wonders if it is a result of his adoption, knowing that the man before him was not his biological father, and yet when the older man turns to them to thank their sensei for taking care of him, and thanks them for protecting his son during danger, the Uchiha catches the sight of Ryuji holding on to the back of his father’s robe with a small hand. 

Haru has mentioned that Ryuji’s negative attitude stems from the roots of his father’s, but Itachi does not see it. The man is earnest, smiling at them genuinely and looks at his son with love and care. Even though he is the Daimyo’s advisor, he does not seem scared to be in their presence like other civilians, but earnestly grateful to them for being there for Ryuji. 

“Do you want to see your mother?” He waits for Ryuji’s hesitant nod. “She misses you dearly, I’m sure that she’ll be extremely happy to know that you are staying the night. Ever since you made Genin, it’s been so rare that you even step foot in the house.” Even honest sadness drips from the man’s voice. 

There’s even a part of Itachi that is slightly jealous. His own father is emotionally stunted and always appears angry. The extent of his affections is a soft, “That’s my boy.”

“Sensei. I’m going to stay at my parent’s house tonight. Is that okay?” Akui suddenly speaks up, turning to their teacher with blank pale blue eyes. Itachi notices that his dad’s eyes are a watered-down green, so desaturated that it almost appears hazel. 

Minazuki nods and laughs in the presence of the adviser. “Yes, yes. That just means more room for us at the hotel, ne? Just be sure to meet us back here at six-thirty in the morning. We are leaving at seven o’clock and it would be no good if we’re late!” 

“Six-thirty! Ah, so soon…” His hand is already comfortably on Ryuji’s shoulder, and Itachi notices just how small he seems next to his dad. “I guess that’s just how it is when you’re a working man. We’ll just have to make the most of our time together.” The boy pauses then nods slowly, slipping into eagerness. 

“I’ll be on time,” he just states. His father is already pulling him away. He barely has time to turn his head and wave, saying, “Good night, Sensei. Uchiha. Haru.” 

“Have a good time with your family, Ryuji-kun!” 

Itachi looks at Haru, expecting a bitter appearance. Perhaps she is jealous like he is, and that’s why she has a negative opinion of the Akuis, but when he looks over, there’s nothing but a warm, genuine smile on her face as she looks at the father-son pair. 

Haru is happy for Ryuji, there is no lie in that.

* * *

Then, the next morning, Team Two is attacked. 

Three hours into their slow descent towards Konoha, a masked man appears. 

Blood splatters on the ground. 

Bodies lay around him. 

His feet are rooted to the ground.

The masked man stands tall around proud amidst this travesty. 

“Uchiha!” a voice suddenly rings — echoes. “Uchiha!” Ryuji shouts. His feet thunder on the ground as he storms forward, sliding then skidding in front of Itachi. Kunai are brandished in his hands, but Itachi can hear the faint clicks that tell him that he’s shaking. And he’s sure — the enemy hears it too. 

He’s scared. 

“What are you doing, Akui-san!” Itachi swipes his arm down. The people around them are already injured, perhaps dead. The enemy even cut down the messenger hawks so that no one would come to them. Minazuki-sensei and Haru are stationed around the Daimyo with explicit orders to protect him above all else. Itachi and Ryuji are sent off to either defeat the enemy, or flee to Konoha as soon as possible. 

“Are you an idiot?!” Akui shouts, eyes never leaving the enemy. He makes no move to approach them. He simply stands still, wild black hair stark against the wind. 

For the first time in his life, Itachi is frozen. 

“Formation Eighteen!” Akui calls, immediately dashing over to the enemy's left. It takes Itachi a heartbeat to recognize the words, and even longer to move into action. His feet drag at first, but soon he’s running over to the enemy’s right and the two of them attack at once. 

Itachi slashes with his kunai but they fall clean through the enemy as if he were a ghost, and from Akui’s furrowed brows, he realizes it too. 

After several minutes of toying with them and dragging out their exhaustion, the man turns to Itachi and breaks the bones in both of his hands with an iron grip. 

The shout of the eight-year-old boy was enough to send the hair on the back of Draco’s neck rising. 

Itachi attempts to clutch both of his broken hands to his chest, but soon the man throws him across the street, and his fall brings up a large dust cloud until he finally slams against the trunk of a tree. Pain shoots up both of his legs the moment he attempts to get up, forcing him to fall back down on the dirt, a cry slipping past his lips, gritting his teeth. He looks down and notices the swelling around his knees and ankles. One dislocated knee, two sprained ankles. 

The man backhands Akui so hard that he’s sent across the road, skidding across it like a pebble skipping on water, but after a motionless silence, the boy gradually rises to Itachi’s horror. They’re too far — on complete opposite ends of the road. He can’t use his kunai. He won’t be able to make it. 

Akui begins to strike again. 

The man dodges with faint fascination as bright lights appear from Akui’s hands, those foreign words that Itachi has just begun to recognize falling from his lips with such determination that they shake like an earthquake. Itachi starts to see them fall through the man and crash into the ground beneath them, creating craters or twisting the ground into swamps and other terrain. 

It’s clear that they’re still losing. 

None of the attacks hit, and Akui is growing more bloody and bruised by the second. His chakra levels are depleting even when only half of his attacks are jutsus. 

“Akui-san, please stop!” Itachi shouts himself hoarse, attempting to be heard across the distance. He recognizes how frail and young he sounds, begging like this. “Leave me! Go to Konoha!” 

Itachi’s outstretched hand falls helplessly. What would Akui-san's dad think when they bring his dead son back to him? 

Would he still smile at them? 

Yesterday feels like a lifetime ago.

He takes a step back, and for a second Itachi’s heart almost soars with relief when he thinks that the boy is going to take his advice and flee. He hesitates, slow and still, and the man waits for him like a predator waiting for his prey. Then he raises a hand, and slaps himself clean across the face. The sound of skin on skin chimes loudly in both of their ears, so light against the grating sounds of battle. His head is snapped to the side from the force. 

_Is this what friends are? He asks later in the future. Was this the strength of their bond?_

He spits out a glob of blood to the side and glares. “That one was for you, damn Touhou,” he mutters, but then he turns his head around to lock his eyes with Itachi. 

_Why is he..._

“Didn’t you hear me before?” Akui rasps, his voice sounding like a man in the desert. Raising a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth away, he smears the red across his chin. “You might have beaten me at the physical part of the Academy, but I was Top Boy for moments too, so…stop...so stop _fucking_ doubting me..! When you’re down and beaten…” Akui looks up at the taller man from blond bangs. “It’s going to be me who will save _you_!” 

_What is he…_

Itachi debates for half a second before he flattens himself on the ground, snatching up a fallen knife with his teeth. He can take the pain — he can run on his own two legs if he just _gets up!_ He can still fight — Why did he even bother saving himself that one time if he couldn’t save his own teammate. _Why can’t he just get up?!_

Then Akui dashes forward one last time, and the masked man drives a sword clean through his chest. The blood splatters in an arc in the air. 

_For a second, he wishes he was never born again._

Itachi’s black eyes have frozen the reflection of the blood on his irises, searing the image in his brain. The blood in his body pumps sporadically, the veins in his head pulsing, his entire body _burns_. 

His eyes flash with a bright red, two tomoe spinning wildly. 

“ _Ryuji_ _!_ ” 

In the distance, birds scatter from his scream. 

Then, a pale, bloody hand snatches the larger hand suddenly. From the deep gasp that rumbles from underneath the mask, even the assailant is surprised. Akui coughs out a splattering of blood, dribbling down his chin in rivulets, but his smirk is ever-present and unfaltering. 

“ _Got you_ ,” he whispers. “ _Avada Kedavra._ ” 

Bright green lights up from underneath Ryuji’s fingers, growing brighter and brighter until it nearly shadowed the sun above. It rises and peters like a flame on a candle. 

The enemy drops dead. 

Ryuji drops not one second after, a sword sticking out of his chest.

* * *

Akui Ryuji’s life goes like this: 

He’s born to a young mother and an unknown father. She gives birth to him alone and with no one, and passes due to childbirth not even a full five minutes afterwards. A concerned neighbor hears his cries and in the span of one week, distant relatives drop him off at the temple’s orphanage without even looking back. 

He remembers his life as Draco Malfoy and wonders about Harry Potter. Parentless, dressed in rags, as skinny as a broomstick. 

He’s considered lucky. He gets adopted before his first birthday and his new father is everything Lucius Malfoy was and _more_. 

In an instant, his former life of easy luxury and wealth is restored. 

His new father is Akui Sato, with light brown hair to his blond, pale green eyes to his icy blue. The man smiles easily and while he sometimes disagrees with Ryuji, he listens with an open ear and offers compromises. 

Ryuji never feels like he’s been through the vanishing cabinet whenever he speaks to him. 

Lucius Malfoy has his blond hair and blue eyes, he has big opinions and even bigger ambitions. Draco grows up believing that he is the most ideal person to become, and the two of them work towards raising him to be a mold of his father. 

Draco grows to have different opinions and is shut away because of it. He grows up doing what he's told, whether it be from his father or the Dark Lord. His father goes to Azkaban and he spends his sixth year crying over leaky bathroom sinks because he just — _splash_ — keeps — _splash_ — on — _splash_ _!_ — failing. 

His new mother’s name is Akui Momoi. Her hair is an even lighter brown than his father's and two steps away from his. Her eyes are amber and golden in the sunlight while his eyes only shine in the winter. She’s meek when they go outside (he’s outrageous when he’s in public; haughty, demanding), but is overly animated when they’re all behind closed doors with her family. (He barely says a word to anyone when they’re alone.) She cries over anything, hugs him whenever she gets the chance, and laughs as loud as a raid siren. 

She loves him despite her inability to have children, and despite the fact that him and his adopted parents are night and day. 

Narcissa Malfoy is no-nonsense, but it was obvious that she cared about him. She’s a repeat of his father and remains stagnant in the background. She does not have her own opinions. Her viewpoints are first formed by her birth family, and then her husband, and then the Dark Lord they served under. The only feeling that is truly her own was her love for him. 

Draco Malfoy has opinions and wants them all to be heard. He always does what he's told. 

His friends are more like henchmen, dividing one brain cell between the two of them and relies on him to be their thinker. Blaize Zabini sees his money before he sees him and Pansy Parkinson likes his name more than she likes him. 

Harry Potter and his small gang of misfits could be heard from across the clocktower courtyard, laughing, joking, smiling. They have nothing in common with one another. Brightest witch of their age. Easy-going, loyal, poor blood-traitor. The Boy Who Lived. They all love each other unconditionally. 

He does not know these people. 

He doubts that anyone has ever truly known him. 

He doubts that he has ever been himself around anyone.

* * *

“Shit!” Knees dive into the bloodied dirt, plunging her legs in a warm pool of red. “Draco!” Hands pillage through her hip pouch, endlessly digging, digging, digging. 

His breathing is shallow, broken by uneven gasps of air as he cries. Their sensei puts a hand to his neck to search for a pulse, but it’s so faint it's practically not there. Minazuki-sensei shouts that he’s going to run to the nearest medic, but they don’t even bother to listen to his words. Their ears ring endlessly, turning any sound into underwater noise. 

Haru holds out her hand and Itachi watches her small bag soar from the carriage right into her open palm. 

Her entire arm dives into the small bag, swallowing her from the bicep down. Hands come out grasping a small purple vial. It shines in the sunlight. 

He feels completely useless, just standing here with broken hands and unusable legs. 

“Sorry, Draco, this is going to hurt!” Haru turns to their fallen teammate, hands up in the air. 

_Draco — is that your name then, Akui-san?_

“God...you’re my medic?” his voice is faint and weak. He can’t get through a whole sentence without coughing up more blood. “I think I’d rather die.” 

“Hey, I paid attention during my Auror training…” She smirks at him warily. “Never thought I’d be so happy to hear your irritating voice. Keep it up for me, okay?” Under her hand, she rips the sword clean out of his person and his shout follows, grating on their ears. He takes in a large gasp of air that ruptures the wound further and the cut is so wide that Itachi can see the shine from some of his organs. If his blood is already trickling out of him like a stream, as Haru removes the sword it becomes a waterfall. 

“What the — “ Hands wrap around her pants in an iron grip, knuckles turning white. Knees come up closer and he hunches over; he wants to curl in on himself. “ _Potter_ _!_ ” 

“I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she cries before she waves her hands again, casting whatever sanitation spells she knows, cleaning his wound, repairing any possible microtears. A whimper slips past his lips every time. “Itachi! Can you make sure he doesn’t squirm around so much?” 

Itachi takes his spot on Akui’s other side. Deep in Akui’s wound, he sees tissue start to knit itself together and Haru has managed to repair his organs. “H-How…?” Large eyes point themselves toward his female teammate. Her hands are covered in blood at this point, coating her skin like a sickly red glove, and she’s still muttering underneath her breath and waving her hands over the stab. A cough brings him out of his stupor. 

“I told you...you weren’t better than me,” Akui rasps as he opens one eye to peer at the child next to him. “I knew that he would still have one part of his body tangible — if he was going to stab me with that sword.” His eyes grow glossy. “Then I could grab it...and he wouldn’t be able to activate the jutsu under my hold.” 

Itachi lets out a soft laugh that sounds more like a cry. “That was completely irresponsible…” _Draco Malfoy who always did what people told him to._ “I believe you, Akui-san. I’ll tell you that you’re better than me ten times if you make it.” 

“Tch. Who do you think you are to make demands of me?” he asks softly, eyes slowly opening and closing. 

Haru finally cracks the vial open and gently drops clear liquid into his open wound. Before his eyes, he watches as skin and muscle slowly knit together like two streams meeting.

Everyone lays in silence until the wound is nothing but a pink circle. 

“I did it,” she whispers to herself, leaning forward until her head is lying face down on their teammate’s chest. She sighs with exhaustion and it rumbles against his ribs. “You better live, you insufferable boy,” the words are muffled against his clothes and skin. 

He sighs and takes that as a sign to fall asleep. 

“You can’t tell me what to do...you damn Potter.” 

Haru’s laugh is choked by a sob.

* * *

 _“Why...did you become a shinobi, Akui-san?_ ”

 _Itachi’s blank expression stares back at him._

His feelings are superfluous and emotions are an afterthought. 

Konoha is bright and cheerful. The streets are wide and spread out, and the air is filled with gentle chatter. There appears to be no rush in anyone’s bones and the people are backwater villagers. 

In the capital city, everyone needs to be everywhere and the people are as shrewd as bugs on their deathbed. 

It’s unlike anything he has ever seen, Diagon Alley, or Hogsmeade, or here, but it still isn’t enough to spark something within him. 

His father takes him on a trip every year, all around the Elemental Nations, to bond with him. Every place is so strange and so different that he feels further from reality every time. 

_He does not know this man, who looks so unlike him and acts even farther from him._

This year their trip aligned with his business meeting in Konoha, a village of _ninjas_. Akui Sato sends him off to explore while he does paperwork until his life wastes away at the Hokage Tower. 

Ryuji is five years old and his pockets contain more money than most people make in a week. 

Sato tells him to get a gift for his adoptive mother but he doesn’t know what she likes. 

_He doesn’t know anything about her_. 

His walk is slow, unpurposeful. The food here does not interest him, nor do the stores, or the activities, and as calm as it is, he feels just as listless. That has been his entire second life: motionless, uncaring, without reason. 

Then he walks past the river and — 

A basket drops onto the ground. 

“ _Draco?!_ ” a voice calls out from across the street. “ _Draco Malfoy?!_ ” 

Among the storm raining down on his life, he suddenly feels something again. The clouds open up. Annoyance. Irritation. 

“Harry Potter,” he spits out automatically, on instinct. 

_He sees blue for the first time._

Feet immediately pound on the dirt road and he’s by her side in a second. They do not hug, cry, or kiss. They were never friends, yet he eats up the sight of her like a man in the desert. In a blur of movement, she collects the fruits that have fallen out of the woven basket and passes it onto another child and they suddenly find themselves at a bench at a park. 

A fire blazes underneath him. He knows the red of her hair and the green of her eyes, even if the look on her irritating face does bubble under his skin like an itch. 

“How are you?” she asks, and he puffs himself up like a peacock. These feelings are familiar. 

“My father is the adviser to the Daimyo and my mother is the head of the Official Tea Association in the capital city!” _There_. He lives a good life, so great that Harry Potter would never hope to surpass it. If there was something that he always took pride in, it was that. 

He chases the competition he once had. 

She huffs, suddenly exasperated with him. He opens his eyes to see a lopsided smile and a tired look. “That’s great and all, Draco, but I wasn’t asking about your family, I’m asking about how you are.” 

He deflates like a balloon. Droops like a flower, slow and low until he’s staring clear at her. What else is he supposed to say?

Everyone else is a fog, and she is a lighthouse by the shore. 

“I’m an orphan again,” she says, dropping in a later conversation, “so I stay at the orphanage.” 

Draco doesn’t know that he has it in him. He doesn’t know what compels him to tell her that he’s adopted too. To give her hope? To bond? He believes that he is supposed to be the superior one in this situation. 

Her smile grows sad as a response, but he doesn’t want her pity. Any trial that she can go through, he thinks in his head, he can go through too. “I start the shinobi Academy next week and then they’ll give me my own apartment.” 

“Shinobi?” he scoffs. He knows of ninja — dirty men and women who love money more than their own morals. “Seems right for you, Potter, always chasing trouble.” 

“It's more like trouble finds me.” She quirks an eyebrow up. Harry — Haruka now, doesn’t continue further. She only smiles; her look is distant. 

They part ways later that night, ending their conversation with uncertain promises of seeing each other again. When he meets up with his father, he asks him if he can become a shinobi of Konoha too. 

He knows Harry Potter. 

Harry Potter is the only person that isn’t a stranger to him. 

. . . 

He surprises her and joins the Academy, they’re in the same class and they clash just like Harry and Draco back at Hogwarts. He wants to pull out his hair every day, he grits his teeth every time a word comes out of her mouth, but...he holds on to that clear blue. 

Then he gets his scores back and he’s the Dead Last in the Academy. 

Haru is the Top Girl without even trying. Perfect Potter, always getting whatever it is that she wants (“You may not know what being alone is like, Togami, but I do,” he remembers shouting one day when their arguments escalated into something more. 

“Is that what you think of me?”). 

So he does what he does best and complains. He tells her that the Academy is a waste of their time. Why would he need to know how to skin a squirrel or how to live off the forest? Why does he need to know 180 knots and how to sharpen their kunai when it gets dull? 

“Why the hell are you even here, Ryu?” she finally says one day, tired out of her mind. It’s the end of their first semester and he still hasn’t made any progress in class. Petty clan children have long made fun of him for his weak stats and he bets that the civilian children would too if it weren’t for the Daimyo’s name attached to his. Her eyebrows are knit so much they’re nearly touching. “I don’t even know why you signed up when you clearly don’t want to be a shinobi…!” 

He doesn’t like getting dirty. He doesn’t want to kill people. Ryuji backs off the moment he gets hurt during spars. If he gave up now, no one would be angry. He’s just a spoiled rich boy, and that is just how it is. His parents have long expressed their disapproval over his choice on being a shinobi and he’s good at politics. He has other options. Akui Sato and Momoi are waiting for him eagerly at home. If he pulls back from the Academy right this instance, there wouldn’t even be a drop in the ocean. 

Haru sighs, and suddenly he hates that sound. “Just give up, Ryu.” 

Akui Ryuji wants to make something out of his life. 

_He has opinions and he wants them to be heard_. 

More importantly, he _hates_ it when people tell him what to do. 

_“Akui-san, please stop! Leave me! Go to Konoha!”_

He sees purple next. 

Bruises bloom on top of his knuckles and form around his eyes when he spars and spends hours hitting the wooden posts at the training grounds until the wood splinters. 

_He rises._

Then orange. 

If he’s not with Haru, then he’s at the library, pouring over every book for shinobi that are on the shelves. He stays until the sun dips down the horizon and the sky is a bright orange. He pays random Genin and Chuunin he finds on the street to give him tips and pointers and help with jutsus then trains until the day is gone. 

_Haru’s grating voice is in his ear, mocking him, ridiculing him, yet, despite their differences, she encourages him. He spends his entire life with all bark and no bite. Little wimpy Draco Malfoy who ran away from Harry in the Forbidden Forest, from Sirius Black, from Dementors, from the fiendfyre he created to kill Harry, and then the war. Ryuji smacks himself across the face and the sound rings loud and clear in his ears. The hatred for Potter’s praise, attention, and glory burns in his veins, but he slinks away in the face of adversity. He is not Draco Malfoy. His feet lead him when he charges at the enemy. He recognizes Kamui and knows what to do next. Akui Ryuji does not run away._

Then red. 

Blood drips down from his nose when the other students smack him around the ring. Cuts form along his fingers when he practices with kunai and shuriken. Their teacher uses red markers to write large 100’s on top of his exams. 

_The sword runs clean through him, but he does not react to the pain. He grabs the enemy’s hand and_ moves _._

And then black. 

That insufferable Uchiha teammate of his is nothing but black hair, black eyes, and black clothes. During the Academy, right after the scores for the term were posted Itachi keeps his eyes firmly planted on the blond boy, but he doesn't even spare him a second's glance. He only looks at the red-haired girl leaning on the wall behind him. Itachi remembers this moment well. He goes home from school with his report card and gives it to his father like clockwork. Fugaku already has a smug look on his face as he takes the paper and a routine, “That’s my boy,” on the tip of his tongue. Eyes fall upon the paper and his smile falls. Itachi is no longer the top of his class. He’s been beaten by a civilian boy named Akui Ryuji. This fact lifts weight from Itachi’s chest and makes him feel light enough to soar. 

_He blacks out._

Draco Malfoy is as much of a coward as the sky is blue. 

Akui Ryuji is not Draco Malfoy. 

And the sky is so much more than just blue.

* * *

_“I became a ninja because...I saw Haru.”_

* * *

The next time Itachi wakes up, he’s at one of Konoha’s outposts. Minazuki-sensei had rushed back with ANBU reinforcements and a medic earlier, but his jaw nearly drops to the floor when he finds his students all passed out beside each other. Ryuji’s stab wound is nearly nonexistent and now the medic looks at him with scrutiny, a large frown on her face since he has dragged them all here with such hysterics. The ANBU finishes the job of accompanying the Daimyo to Konoha while Team Two rests at the outpost before heading out the next day. 

The Uchiha wakes up alone in the room. The sky has long turned inky and dotted with more stars than he can ever hope of seeing in Konoha. Tall trees surround the outpost and block his view out the window. His heart seizes for a second, blood pumping when he turns around and round but there is no sight of his teammates anywhere. Blankets slip off his person and his feet hit the cold ground. The medic has healed his dislocated knee and his ankles, but his hands remained useless and bandaged. 

Light seeps out from the attached bathroom and two shadows split the artificial white rays. He pads closer, steps silent as a cat, and pushes his ear against the door. Their chakra burns behind it, flickering like flames in the wind. Then — he hears crying. 

“A-And then…” Ryuji takes a shaky breath and Itachi can see him sniffling to try and retract those tears somehow. “And then I grabbed his hand...and I used the Killing Curse on him.” 

“Draco…” Haru’s voice trails off, her tone a mix of disappointment and astonishment. 

“What the hell was I supposed to do, Harry?!” he shouts in response to her displeasure over whatever the Killing Curse is. He recoils like an abused dog, hovering between uncertainty and the intense need to be accepted. 

“Stop it, I didn’t mean it that way — “ Akui shouts something at her in their language, his volume rising in hysterics. 

“ — Can you just calm down?!” Haru yells, finally. Itachi can see her put her hands on Ryuji’s shoulders and shake him. 

The sound of skin on skin tells him that he had slapped her hand away. “Don’t tell me what to do!” 

“ _I didn’t mean it like that!_ You absolute idiot!” she roars. “Can you — can you just listen to me for one second?!” 

“Do you think that I wanted to do that?” Akui’s voice rises to an amazing pitch. “Do you think I wanted to kill people?! I’m not like that! I’m a _bad person_ but I’m not a murder!” His sobs are clear and loud now, broken by hiccups and large gasps of air. Then his voice calms into the trickle of a river. “I never even wanted to kill that old man… You know that…don’t you, Harry?” Itachi’s eyebrows furrow into a deep V. His voice grows quieter. “Do you know that…?” 

“...I know… I know you almost backed down in the tower too.” Her voice is but a mere whisper. The sound of fabric rustling tells Itachi that she pulled him into a hug. 

“Do you regret it?” she asks next, her voice low and soft. 

“Wha — Weren’t you listening to me?!” 

“You feel bad about it,” she clarifies. “But that’s not the same. If you could go back in time…would you still kill that man?” 

He snorts, pauses. Then, “...Yeah… For Uchiha.” 

Itachi can practically hear the smile in her voice. “How nice of you to think of our teammate when all you did was trash talk him in the beginning.” He is disappointed, but not surprised. “You’ve grown.” 

“Tch! It’s because you infected my mind like a rash with your stupid, reckless saving-people thing!” 

She laughs but doesn’t say anything to counter that statement. 

The two stay like that for a while, shrouded in silence. It’s long enough for Itachi to remove his body from the door and lean on the wall beside it. 

“And you? How old were you…?” Akui suddenly asks. “When you…” His voice is barely audible, but it doesn’t hold any of his former hardness, the shields that he has put up. He’s sincere, he truly wants to know for the sake of knowing. 

“I was eleven. I killed Quirrell.” 

The fact that they’re all eight-years-old currently doesn’t even phase Itachi anymore. After today, he knows that his teammates are neck-deep in a secret that hasn’t been shared with him yet. 

But a part of him knows that they’ll tell him when the time comes. 

“Ah…” Ryuji simply blurts out, sniffling. “If it helps…I think he deserved it.” 

Then Haru laughs genuinely and loudly. 

“Thanks, Ryu.”

* * *

“Are you kidding me? Itachi’s some of the most Gryffindor people I know.” His eyes start to flutter in the light of the sun. “Brave, courageous, strong…”

“I think you need to bring back your ugly glasses in this world too. Do you need to take an eye-exam? He’s clearly a Slytherin. How can he be top of our class without ambition?” 

“I’m Top Girl,” a female voice rises, one so familiar that he has the urge to turn in bed just to be closer to it. “Hermione was the head of our class and she’s a Gryffindor too.” 

“You forgot that Gryffindors need to be brave and _dumb_. Itachi doesn’t lack the brain cells necessary for your motley house.” The male voice is haughty, proud. A groan suddenly comes from the bed they’re hovering around and in an instant the two look at each other and then dart to different parts of the bed. Ryuji has no issue with moving Itachi’s legs aside so that he could sit at the end of his bed while Haru takes a knee beside the nightstand. She shoots Ryuji a dirty look and he hisses back with an irritated, “What?” 

“What...don’t...I lack?” Itachi finally mummers, slipping out of unconsciousness. His tongue hits the roof of his mouth like he had just swallowed a stack of paper, and he cringes at the feeling. He forces himself to sit up and the blankets fall to his waist. Haru immediately pours him a glass of water and then sheepishly tips it into his mouth when the both of them realize he still doesn’t have full use of his hands. 

“How are you, Itachi-kun?” Haru asks, placing the empty glass back on the nightstand. It’s amazing — how young and tiny he looks when he sits in the hospital bed like that, nearly engulfed by all the free space of the bed around him. 

“He looks terrible if you ask me,” Ryuji speaks up from the foot of the bed. 

Their female teammate immediately wheels in on him. “I’d like to see you get thrown and we’ll see how good _you_ look.” 

He crosses his arm haughtily. “In case you didn’t know, I _was_ thrown.” 

“Why am I the one in the hospital and not Ryuji-san?” Itachi asks instead, rubbing his throbbing forehead. 

“I was in the hospital.” Ryuji moves the collar of his yukata so that they can see the swathe of bandages wrapping around his torso. “I just hate sitting and doing nothing so I snuck out.” 

Eyebrows furrow, it doesn’t even take a second for him to open his mouth before Ryuji cuts him off again. 

“I’m _fine_ ,” he drawls, “Togami isn’t as much of an idiot at Iryo-jutsu than I thought.” None of them point out that healing jutsu was definitely not that she used. 

Itachi snatches the stray pillow before Haru gets a chance to launch it at the blond’s face. She huffs irritably. If the blond didn’t think of himself as better than this, Itachi was sure that he would’ve stuck his tongue out her. 

“I’ll go get the nurse and tell your parents, okay?” Haru says. He blinks owlishly and tilts his head, spilling black hair over his shoulder. The doctors had long taken his hair out of his signature ponytail and now it flows freely. With his hair down, he looks more like his mother than he likes to admit, almost erasing all of his father’s blocky features from his face completely. 

“My family is here?” 

“Are you kidding? Your little brother wouldn’t leave your side.” It’s Ryuji who speaks up, narrowing blue eyes at him. As Haru gets up, they give a small nod to each other as she leaves the room, slipping the room into silence as she closes the door behind her with a click. 

“Uchiha — “ 

“Ryuji-san — “ they say at the same time. 

A flush appears on Ryuji’s face and he puffs up his chest. “I’ll — I’ll go first.” He exhales and those blue eyes attempt to look anywhere but at Itachi. “I’m sorry for being a bad teammate earlier on.” 

“Oh…” Warmth spreads throughout his body. “I don’t...I didn’t mind. We were not really friends, so there was no expectation. We just had to complete our missions.” 

“Tch, tell that to the ideas Haru puts in my mind. I mean it. I’m not going to take it back even if you don’t accept it.” He looks dead set on getting Itachi to accept his apology, and the Uchiha looks the boy up and down. The tell-tale signs of nervousness, the slight trembling of his fingers, the darting of his eyes, the knitting of his eyebrows. He’s sure that Ryuji has never done something like this before — but he’s earnest. 

A weary smile appears on Itachi’s lips. 

“I appreciate it,” he says honestly. “Though...Ryuji-san...can I ask you something?” 

“I’m not going to promise to answer it.” 

That’s the best he can get. 

“Ryuji-san...it’s obvious that you don’t want to be a shinobi.” From his silence, Itachi knows that he agrees and uses that as a sign to move forward. “And you have a good family, so you’re not doing it out of necessity.” He did not like Itachi, and he was scared beyond his life. “Can I ask why...you didn’t run away?” Itachi is so sure that the Ryuji he was familiar with was going to flee. The fear in his eyes and the trembling of his limbs gave it away. 

The blond isn’t looking at him at the point, keeping his eyes firmly on the painting of a jasmine flower they have up on the wall of his hospital room. After a few minutes ticked away, he sighed and his shoulders drooped. 

“At some point in your life...you need to make a choice about what kind of man you’re going to be,” he says instead. “And I’ve been delaying mine.” He exhales again and shrugs easily, closing his eyes. “Whatever. You would’ve done the same. We all had a mission to complete.” At this point, Haru cracks the door open again and pokes her head in, sliding in easily after she notices that she’s not interrupting something. 

“That’s not true,” Itachi cuts in, making Ryuji freeze in his spot. “I would’ve ran away too.” 

Shoulders tense, Ryuji turns his glare on him. 

“You would have risked my life and Haru’s?” 

“No.” He shakes his head so hard that his hair falls in his face. “Never. The success of the mission...is not important to me.” _Despite what the clan tells me_. Both of them widen their eyes at the implication that he would’ve let the Daimyo die. “If it was possible, I would’ve gotten you and Haru and we could’ve ran away together. I think…” Fingers tighten around his thread-bare sheets. “I think the safety of all of us is the most important thing to me. Not the mission, nor the enemy.” 

Memories of Ryuji’s blood falling in an arc in the sky flash before his eyes and he feels the red of his Sharingan threaten to come out. His hands let go of the white covers and he takes notice of the wrinkles he’s put on there. He shakes his head. “Though I guess it doesn’t matter anymore… Thank you for saving my life, and...I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough earlier.” He attempts to bow from where he sat. 

The sound of their breathing becomes the loudest thing in the room. 

“Ryu?” Haru suddenly speaks up, her voice a mere whisper. 

“What is it?” His voice is just as soft. 

“He’s definitely a Hufflepuff.” 

Itachi doesn’t know what that means, but the honor in her voice makes him swell with happiness. 

The door is thrown open again and he’s immediately tackled by a black blur. 

“Nii-san!” Sasuke cheers before he body-slams him in the bed. 

“Oof!”

* * *

Uchiha Mikoto has to practically pry her youngest son out of Itachi’s arms the moment the nurse tells them that visiting hours are over. She laughs cheerfully, kissing her oldest on the forehead before telling her family to come along and to help her get her groceries for dinner. Sasuke stomps his feet and nearly throws a tantrum then and there, almost knocking over Itachi’s dinner tray when the nurse brings it in. Fugaku silences his youngest with his booming voice, but Itachi assures him that Sasuke can come visit him in the morning — He isn’t going anywhere. 

Sasuke leaves with both of his hands in his parents’, but he looks back nearly every second. This brings a large smile on Itachi’s face — his brother is just too cute. 

Ryuji yawns and stretches after the nurse scolds him and sends him a warning: if he isn’t in his own hospital room by the time she comes to pick up his dinner tray, they’re going to tie him to the bed. His bare feet pad on the floor when he climbs off Itachi’s bed and he sends the two of them a curt nod before retiring for the evening. 

“Are you going to be leaving soon?” Itachi asks the only person left in the room. All of Konoha is dyed in amber with the setting sun. 

She shrugs easily. “There’s no rush.” There’s no one waiting for her at home, he remembers with a pang in his chest. He hunches over and hangs his head. 

“You can’t eat like that,” Haru suddenly says, casually reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind his ear, but it easily slips back in place. He miraculously keeps himself from flinching under her touch, immediately relaxing the moment she steps back out of his personal space. 

“Ah…” He glances down at his bandaged hands. “My hands are broken. I can’t tie my hair,” he admits. Forks and spoons are on his plate instead of chopsticks. 

“May I?” she asks, slipping off a ribbon from her wrists. Ever so slowly, he nods. 

The ticking of the clock keeps them occupied as she brushes his hair briefly with her fingers before gathering the strands into her hands. Black eyes fall as nimble hands thread through his hair, gently combing them as her skin meets with his. Her warmth is on his back and he feels the urge to press his cheek against her palm to gather some of the affection he's lost since he turned five. Itachi isn’t aware that he was holding his breath until she mumbles out an, “All done,” and leans back completely. 

“How do I look?” he asks suddenly in a strange burst of mischief. He does not remove his stare from her. 

A large smile appears on her face, stretching from ear to ear. “Very pretty, Itachi-kun.” Her smirk matches his own. 

“Prettier than a... _veela_?” His accent twists the word into near incomprehension, but her eyes still widen in shock, nearly flinching back in surprise. Itachi _is_ the genius of their class. As time went along, Haru and Ryuji stopped caring as much about speaking in that strange language of theirs, so it’s not off the table that he picked up a couple of words that they drop here and there. Eventually, her shoulders relax and she laughs. 

“Dare I say, even prettier than a veela, Itachi-kun.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Random Facts:  
> \- I originally wrote the first premise of this fic years ago, and I was inspired by the fact that Draco would've been the top of his class if it weren't for Hermione.  
> \- Akui Ryuji is my attempt at literally translating Draco Malfoy's name. I made it years ago, and it continued to stick. Akui [悪意] means bad faith, bad intentions, malice, etc. similarly to the belief that Malfoy means "of bad faith" in French if broken apart! Ryuji [龍司] is written with the character for "dragon" and "rule."  
> \- I can see the different houses having different main objectives for missions! Slytherin's goal is to complete the mission with the uttermost success. Gryffindors would want to eliminate anything that gets in the way of the mission. Hufflepuffs want to protect the people involved in the mission. Ravenclaws want to think of ways to incorporate all of the above. Of course there's a lot of overlap, but I see it more as "what would pop into their head" if they're asked how they would approach a mission. I'd love to hear what you guys think!

**Author's Note:**

> I sincerely hope that everyone is doing well during this crazy moment in time and that you're all safe. I originally planned for this fic to be one big chapter as I slowly work on the chapter of my other fic, but it kinda derailed and I have to split it up into two.  
> Thank you for reading!


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